Flexible spring guide tip for insertion of vascular catheters



United States Patent Inventors Norman C. Jeckel;

Ronald N. Jeck el; Charles C. Roach, Glens Falls, New York Appl. No.505,610

Filed Oct. 29, 1965 Patented Sept. 15, 1970 Assignee United StatesCatheter & Instrument Corporation Glens Falls, New York a corporation ofDelaware FLEXIBLE SPRING GUIDE TIP FOR INSERTION OF VASCULAR CATHETERS 3Claims, 2 Drawing Figs.

US. Cl. 128/341,128/348 Int. Cl A61b 5/02,

A6lm 23/00 Field ofSearch l28/2.05,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 707,775 8/1902 Harris128/349 812,020 2/ 1906 Crippen 27/24 2,118,631 5/1938 Wappler 128/3492,684,069 7/ 1954 Donaldson et a1. 128/303 OTHER REFERENCES U. S.C.l.Catalogue, 1964, pages 29, 32 and 33 relied on.

Primary Examiner-Dalton L. Truluck Attorney-W. Saxton Seward ABSTRACT: Aspring guide for use in connection with the insertion of cardiac orvascular catheters having internal reinforcement throughout its length,the reinforcing means having reduced stiffening effect within .thedistal tip to provide relatively greater flexibility of the guide in thetip portion thereof.

Patented Sept. 15, 1970 3,528,406

,, ,v mm

IN VE N TOR NORMAN c. JEcKEL' RONALD 1v. JECKEL CHARLES c ROACH FLEXIBLESPRING GUIDE TIP FOR INSERTION OF VASCULAR CATHETERS This inventionrelates to new and useful improvements in spring guides used primarilyin vascular manipulations and more particularly seeks to provide aspring guide that has reinforced strength throughout the proximalportion but flexibility within the distal tip.

The marked advances in cardiac and vascular surgery in the past fewyears and other medical problems that require diagnostic study of thevascular beds and systems has led to the extensive use of cardiac orvascular catheters, particularly for retrograde aortography andangiocardiography, and less often to take blood samples, determineoxygen content, infuse medicaments, etc. at internal sites and variousother uses that require the insertion of a relatively long catheter toan internal site that requires movement of the catheter into branchvessels at sharp angles relative to the feeding direction of thecatheter.

The most common method for insertion of such catheters is thepercutaneous technique described in 1953 by Sven Ivar Seldinger. In thisprocedure a local anaesthesia is ,administered and a skin puncture madeat a small angle to the vessel (e.g. femoral in the leg or branchial inthe arm) with an obturator positioned within a cannula. Once the unithas been properly located in the vessel, the obturator is removed andthe flexible spring guide then inserted through the cannula into thevessel for a short distance. Pressure is then applied to hold the springguide in place while the cannula is withdrawn. The spring guide is thenfed into the vessel generally under the fluoroscope until the desiredpoint is reached which may or may not require considerable manipulationif there are branched vessels or curves concerned. Thereafter thecatheter is passed over the flexible spring guide and fed into thedesired position and the spring guide then withdrawn from the catheterunless both are needed for cooperative manipulation purposes.

There are presently available spring guides made from stainless steelhaving outside diameter sizes from about 0.025" (pediatric), up to0.054" and from about 100 to 150 cm. long which are used withcorrespondingly shorter catheters. The guides consist of an outer casewhich is a closely wound stainless steel spring to form a continuouscoil surrounding an inner bore which is then sealed at the distal endwith a rounded tip or cap. A straight core wire is placed within thecoil bore and is either freely movable within the guide or fixed withinthe guide about 3 cm. short of the distal tip which is left flexible formanipulation purposes.

Thus the distal tip has the consistency of the proximal portion orcomplete lack of reinforcement. In some instances, an 0.014 wire hasbeen braided over with a finer wire with the braid passing about 3 cm.beyond the primary wire and the entire unit placed within the springguide and secured at both ends within the braided extension being withthe tip portion of the spring guide. This is obviously complex andexpensive, and

in any event, cannot be accomplished in smaller sizes such as 0.035 or0.0025 OD.

Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a spring guide,the distal end of which has flexibility and strength intermediate tothat of the proximal body portion of the spring guide.

We have found the wire diameter of the reinforcing core wire can bereduced in the distal tip relative to that in the proximal body portionto satisfactorily accomplish the above object.

With the above and other objects and features in view, the nature ofwhich will be more apparent, the invention will be more fully understoodby reference to the drawings the accompanying detailed description andthe appended claims.

In the drawings:

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal cross-section taken through a spring guideconstructed in accordance with this invention; and

FIG. 2 is a similar longitudinal cross-section through a modifie Springg i This invention as illustrated shows two modicfications of springguides constructed in accordance with this invention but obviouslyothers will fall within the scope thereof.

A conventional spring guide 5 is shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 made up ofcontinuous contiguous coil 6 with a proximal portion 7 and a distal tip8. These represent .035 OD. spring guides, but the same principle isapplicable to smaller sizes or larger sizes that may be made. As shownin FIG. I the inner core wire has two portions, the proximal heavyportion 9 and the distal lighter portion 10 which coincides with thedistal tip of the spring guide. Portion 9 is about .014" and portion 10is about .010".

As shown in FIG. 2 there are two core wires, wire 11 being approximately.006 and extending throughout the entire length of the spring guide andwire 12 being about .010" but extending only up to the beginning of thedistal tip 8 of the spring guide. All three of the inner wires disclosedherein are fixed at the proximal end of the spring guide and wires 10and 1 1 are fixed at the distal end thereof whereas wire 12 is fixed atthe proximal end of the distal tip. Thus in both modifications there isprovided an intermediate reinforcement and flexibility of the distal tipof the spring guide.

In the examples shown, both the spring guides and the inner core wiresare stainless steel but the same principles are obviously applicable toany of the various materials from which a spring guide may be made. p Iva ri ods chaii g e s; modifications and ramifications will, of course,be obvious to those skilled in the art and are considered to be withinthe scope of the appended claims hereto.

having a proximal portion, a flexible distal tip portion and a wire coreextending throughout the entire length of both said 1 portions and fixedat the respective ends of said spring guide,

said wire core having a reduced cross-section within said distal tipportion and consisting of a first wire within said proximal portion anda second wire within said proximal portion and said distal tip.

ing the full length of the coil spring guide and a second elongatedrod-like member of shorter length than said first member extending onlythrough said proximal portion, said second member being substantiallythicker in cross-section than said first member.

